Back at Liv's apartment, Amanda let herself in with the spare key Olivia had given her on Friday night. She was immediately greeted by the clatter of claws on hardwood floors, skittering towards her. Frannie bounced around her owner with joy, as though she had been gone for a month, not just a few hours. She jumped up attempting to lick the blonde detective's ears.
Amanda laughed at the pit bull's antics, "Hey, Frannie girl, calm down! I'm here, I know, I'm sorry I had to leave, but I'm back now." She scratched the loveable pooch behind the ears as she laid down and rolled over, so the blonde could rub her belly.
"Manna!" She heard from the room beyond where her dog was sprawled on the floor. "Mommy, Mommy, Manna's home!"
Home. Amanda had to admit to herself that she liked how that sounded. It could get pretty lonely sometimes, living alone in the big bad city, it made a nice change to walk in and have someone there to greet her, and actually be happy to see her, which was a first for Amanda, unless you count Frannie.
Noah came running towards her and flung himself at her where she crouched fussing Frannie. Already precariously balanced on the balls of her feet, the force of his jump knocked her on her ass. Letting out an involuntary "oof!" she managed to grab hold of the little boy so he didn't get hurt as the momentum rolled her onto her back. She was laughing as the toddler put his hands on her cheeks. "Manna I lost you!" He scolded her, an adorable pout on his lips. "Where did you go?" He demanded as she sat up again, sitting him in her lap.
Before she could respond, she heard a deep chuckle from the entrance to the kitchen. Looking over Noah's head she spotted Olivia, leaning, arms folded casually, on the pillar separating the kitchen from the open-plan living area, an amused smile playing about her perfect mouth and her brown eyes sparkling.
The lieutenant wore a deep burgundy cardigan open over a white long-sleeved t-shirt, with dark grey knee length yoga pants. Her feet were bare, showing off perfectly polished toenails. Her long chestnut locks were pulled back in a messy bun and she didn't have on an ounce of makeup. Amanda thought she had never seen Olivia look more beautiful.
The blonde's mouth went dry and the moisture seemed to migrate somewhere distinctly further south. Noah shifted on her knee, bringing her back to reality, hopefully before the brunette noticed her staring. Remembering the boy was waiting for an answer she looked back into his crystal blue eyes. "Sorry little man, I had to go to work for a while. I'm here now though. What have you been doing this morning?"
"We has pan-case, den take Fwannie to da pock," he rattled off happily. "Now mommy make sgetty. You has sgetty too, Manna?"
"Um… yes?" Amanda wasn't sure what she was agreeing to, but it seemed to make Noah happy. With a satisfied smile, he hopped off the blonde's lap, running back to the living area where he was building a block tower. Frannie, aware she no longer had her owner's attention, got up and followed the boy, jumping up onto the sofa, settling down where she could keep watch over her mini human.
Liv had moved over to where the younger woman still sat on the foyer floor, and held out a hand to pull her up. Amanda took it gratefully, squeezing it a little tighter as she stood up and her head spun.
"You okay?" Liv asked, placing her other hand on Amanda's elbow when she swayed slightly. A look of concern in her mocha eyes.
"Fine," Amanda muttered, going pink. "Just stood up too fast, got dizzy." She steadied herself, blinking a couple of times as she tried to focus on Liv's face.
"Did you eat anything today?" Olivia asked the younger woman, still looking worried when Amanda didn't release the hold on her hand.
When she was sure she wasn't going to fall, she slowly relinquished her grip and gave her lieutenant a guilty smile. "Um, I kinda forgot to eat. We got a little busy."
"Amanda." Liv chastised, gently. "You have to start looking after yourself better. It's a good job you just told Noah that you would stay for lunch. It's nearly ready."
"Is that what I just said yes to?" wondered the southern woman.
Liv chuckled again as she turned and headed back to the kitchen, her blonde detective following in her wake. "He told you I was making spaghetti, and asked you if you were going to have some with us. You said you would."
"Are you training Noah to join the squad?" Amanda asked mildly as she trailed after the brunette. Liv looked at her in confusion. "Did you see that tackle? It was better than any rookie on the beat. As for the interrogation skills, well, I guess he gets that from you?" The blonde was laughing by this point and Olivia joined in.
"Sorry about that," she said, still chuckling. "Hey, he didn't hurt you, did he?" she asked as an afterthought, concern colouring her voice as she realised belatedly that it could have caused Amanda some damage.
"Of course not," the blonde assured her, "but I think he'll make a great football player in the future."
In the kitchen, Amanda's nose was met with the smell of garlic and herbs, along with a rich savoury scent. She found her mouth watering. Although she had felt a low level of nausea throughout the morning, she thankfully hadn't been sick and the nausea itself had worn off about an hour ago. Now she was starving. "God Liv, that smells incredible." She inhaled deeply, looking into a pan on the stove where a tomato sauce simmered away. "You made this?"
"Don't sound so surprised, Rollins!" Liv exclaimed, clutching her chest in mock offense. "You may have your southern cooking skills, but I can hold my own in a kitchen." She dipped a small spoon into the sauce, then held it out to the blonde, cupping her other hand below it, just in case it dripped. "Here, try it."
Amanda hesitated, then leaned forward, closing her lips around the spoon. Her eyes snapped shut as the flavour exploded across her tongue. Olivia couldn't take her eyes off the younger woman's face as it took on a look of ecstasy. Her eyes darting down to watch as she pulled the spoon slowly from between the blonde's lips.
Licking her own suddenly dry lips, she cleared her throat with a light cough, "uhm, so what do you think?" she asked.
"Mmmmmm, that is amazing, Liv." Amanda moaned appreciatively. Olivia flushed at the praise.
Swallowing thickly, Liv forced her face into an amused expression, "What, you expected anything less?" She teased the blonde, hoping the tremor in her voice wasn't noticeable.
"Oh, I've yet to discover anything that 'Badass Benson' can't do," Amanda teased right back.
Olivia raised a questioning eyebrow at her detective, "'Badass Benson'? Really? Did you come up with that?" Snickering at the ridiculousness of the nickname, she bent down to the oven, removing a pan of meatballs that smelled divine. Amanda's mouth started watering.
"Naw, Liv," The Georgian detective drawled with a grin, watching as Liv reached into the cupboard for a couple of bowls, and a small blue plastic dish for Noah, "That nickname has been around since long before I joined the squad. I'm surprised you haven't heard it."
The older woman shrugged. She normally let the idle chit chat at the precinct just pass her by, she had no use for office gossip.
Amanda, trying to be helpful, got cutlery from the drawer, and moved over to set the table, struck once again by the domesticity of the situation. "Yeah," she continued, "I asked Fin about it once. He said it was something to do with you singlehandedly tracking down a child pornographer, just by talking to his victim on the phone. According to Fin, you stopped him by standing in front of his car without flinching as he drove at you, then broke his nose when he wouldn't tell you where the girl was."
"Maria…" Liv breathed, pausing in the act of draining the pasta over the sink. "My god that was like, ten years ago."
"So you've been known as Badass Benson for a decade and you didn't know?" Amanda smiled, shaking her head in mock disappointment.
"You didn't hear her, Amanda," Liv said quietly. Amanda was stunned to see there were actual tears in the older woman's eyes, "if you'd have been there you would have done exactly the same thing."
"Oh, Liv," Amanda rushed to the brunette's side, immediately feeling bad for teasing her, "it's okay." She placed a comforting hand on Olivia's shoulder. "You got her out eventually, right? You saved her."
Olivia smiled weakly, blinking harshly to dispel the moisture in her eyes. "We had to dig her up. The evil bastard had buried her alive, but she was okay. I actually hear from her every now and then. In her last email she told me she was going to college." She gazed fondly into the middle distance, her mind obviously far away.
"Nice to know things work out alright, sometimes," Amanda added thoughtfully. If she hadn't been in awe of Olivia before, she certainly was now. The brunette had such a way with victims, they still stayed in contact with her, even years later.
A loud peal of childish laughter brought both women back to reality. They looked over to see Noah giggling at Frannie, who was chasing her tail, much to the toddler's amusement.
Liv shook herself mentally, and got back to the task of serving dinner as Amanda moved over to where Noah played. "Hey buddy," She called to him, "I think your sgetty is almost ready, why don't we go wash up before we eat, huh?"
She held her hand out to the little boy, who jumped to his feet and ran to the blonde, shouting, "Sgetty! My like sgetty, Manna!"
The two women laughed as he pulled Amanda towards the bathroom to wash his hands, eager to get to the table for his favourite meal.